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Wheeler's Files for Chapter 11

Wheeler’s Building Materials, a pro dealer and window manufacturer based in Rome, Ga., is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a report in the Rome News Tribune. The move follows a January announcement that the company would lay off 264 employees at a number of its operations, including its window manufacturing plant.

“We will figure something out. We always have,” Mark Manis, Wheeler’s CEO told the local paper last week. “It’s a sad day, but these are sad times for the whole building industry.”

The company serves production builders in the Atlanta area and has faced a severe downturn in demand with the woes of the housing market. The company’s sales had declined by 60 percent, Manis told the News Tribune, and it had already scaled back by closing two plants in Charlotte, N.C., and facilities in Dalton, Calhoun, Newnan, Morrow, Madison and Cartersville, Ga. Wheeler’s also sold a plant in Birmingham, according to the newspaper.